Effect of Cold Rolling on the Evolution of Shear Bands and Nanoindentation Hardness in Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 Bulk Metallic Glass.

The effect of cold rolling on the evolution of hardness (H) and Young's modulus (E) on the rolling-width (RW), normal-rolling (NR), and normal-width (NW) planes in Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 (Vitreloy 1) bulk metallic glass (BMG) was investigated systematically using nanoindentation at peak loads in the range of 50 mN-500 mN. The hardness at specimen surface varied with cold rolling percentage (%) and the variation is similar on RW and NR planes at all the different peak loads, whereas the same is insignificant for the core region of the specimen on the NW plane. Three-dimensional (3D) optical surface profilometry studies on the NR plane suggest that the shear band spacing decreases and shear band offset height increases with the increase of cold rolling extent. Meanwhile, the number of the pop-in events during loading for all the planes reduces with the increase of cold rolling extent pointing to more homogeneous deformation upon rolling. Calorimetric studies were performed to correlate the net free volume content and hardness in the differently cold rolled specimens.

Influence of Nb on the Microstructure and Fracture Toughness of (Zr0.76Fe0.24)100-xNbx Nano-Eutectic Composites.

The present study demonstrates the evolution of eutectic microstructure in arc-melted (Zr0.76Fe0.24)100-xNbx (0 ≤ x ≤ 10 atom %) composites containing α-Zr//FeZr2 nano-lamellae phases along with pro-eutectic Zr-rich intermetallic phase. The effects of Nb addition on the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties under compression, bulk hardness, elastic modulus, and indentation fracture toughness (IFT) were investigated. The Zr-Fe-(Nb) eutectic composites (ECs) exhibited excellent fracture strength up to ~1800 MPa. Microstructural characterization revealed that the addition of Nb promotes the formation of intermetallic Zr54Fe37Nb9. The IFT (KIC) increases from 3.0 ± 0.5 MPa√m (x = 0) to 4.7 ± 1.0 MPa√m (x = 2) at 49 N, which even further increases from 5.1 ± 0.5 MPa√m (x = 0) and up to 5.9 ± 1.0 MPa√m (x = 2) at higher loads. The results suggest that mutual interaction between nano-lamellar α-Zr//FeZr2 phases is responsible for enhanced fracture resistance and high fracture strength.